Girls forge a relationship with the ocean

Feb. 9, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Sarah Glick of Niguel Hills Middle School in Laguna Niguel sifts through mud taken from the ocean floor during the Girls in Ocean Science Teen Conference. Girls took part in a series of interactive workshops aboard the Institute's research vessel to get them excited about the sciences. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Girls get close to a pod of dolphins outside the harbor during the Girls in Ocean Science Teen Conference in Dana Point Saturday. The conference is designed to encourage girls who have an interest in science. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A pod of Common dolphins delight girls on a boat at the Ocean Institute Science Teen Conference Saturday. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Cennedy Chapman, 11, reacts as the boat dips in the waves during the Girls in Ocean Science Teen Conference. The conference was hosted by the Ocean Institute in Dana Point to inspire and excite young women to pursue degrees and careers in the sciences. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Shrimp molt is displayed in a jar during the Girls in Ocean Science Teen Conference in Dana Point Saturday. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Anna Cummins, co-founder of 5 Gyres Institute, explaines about plastic pollution during a boat excursion in Dana Point. She was taking part in the Girls in Ocean Science Teen Conference sponsored by the Ocean Institute. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Camille Handa from Vista del Mar Middle School in San Clemente feels the spray of water from her boat during the Girls in Ocean Science Teen Conference Saturday. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Sarah Glick of Niguel Hills Middle School in Laguna Niguel sifts through mud taken from the ocean floor during the Girls in Ocean Science Teen Conference. Girls took part in a series of interactive workshops aboard the Institute's research vessel to get them excited about the sciences.MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

DANA POINT – As Aliya Steinmetz cast her eyes on a school of dolphins swimming alongside the boat on which she was riding, she let out a gasp and pointed to the diving creatures.

"Can I call my mom on the cell phone?" she asked a parent volunteer.

The sixth grader at Shorecliffs Middle School in San Clemente was one of more than 100 girls participating Saturday morning at the Ocean Institute's 2013 Girls in Ocean Science Teen Conference.

The annual event, which aims to inspire high school and middle school girls to pursue careers in the sciences, featured several women scientists, including a sea otter scientist, a dolphin expert, a marine mammal rescuer, a shark and stingray expert, an evolutionary biologist and an expert who studies garbage patches in the ocean.

The girls got to go out one group at a time on a motorboat into the ocean, see some of the marine life off the coastline and hear from the accompanying scientists.

Kayla Causey, a researcher with the Coastal Dolphins of Orange County, told a group of girls that her interest in studying dolphin behavior was piqued when she read a book on the subject.

"I wanted to study dolphins in their natural habitat instead of indoors in captivity," she said.

Causey talked about how she goes out into the ocean on her little boat and tries to identify dolphins by measuring their dorsal fins. She brought protractors and rulers to show how she measures the fins.

Sometimes, you can identify dolphins by their injuries, Causey said. She knows of one dolphin off the coast of Newport Beach with a mangled fin whom she has named Gnarly, she said.

The girls also heard from Anna Cummins with the Five Gyres Institute, a researcher who studies garbage deposited into the ocean and the effect it has on marine life. She explained that a gyre is a large system of rotating ocean currents. A lot of marine litter gets caught in these gyres and forms a garbage patch stretching miles into the ocean, Cummins said, to the surprise and disgust of her young spectators.

Cummins told the girls how the plastic garbage disposed into the storm drains gets into the ocean and never goes away.

"If Christopher Columbus had used plastic utensils during his voyages, we would still find them today," she said.

Aliya said listening to Cummins made her sad.

"I'm really disappointed that people are so irresponsible," she said. "My friend and I, if we see trash on the beach, we always pick it up and throw it away."

Bailey Hart, a sixth grader from Niguel Hills Middle School in Laguna Niguel, said she was happy to see a brittle star from the mud sample staffers took from the bottom of the ocean with what is known as a Benthic grabber.

"I had no idea that there was mud underneath," Bailey said.

Kimmy Helling, one of the staffers at the event, said she is happy to see the program evolve since its inception. She and her best friend, Sarah Bedolf, were among the first participants when her father, Harry Helling, started it.

"It really empowers young women," she said. "I combined my love for science and my passion for writing, where now I write for One World One Ocean that makes IMAX films about the ocean. For me, it all began right here."

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